1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a connector that locks terminal fittings in a housing.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,439,397 discloses a connector with a housing that has opposite front and rear ends. The housing has cavities that extend from the front end to the rear end and locks that extend into the cavities. Female terminal fittings are inserted into the cavities from the rear and are locked by the locks. Insertion openings extend into the cavities from the front and allow the insertion of tabs of male terminal fittings. Mold-removal spaces also extend into the front of the housing so that the locks can be molded. The insertion holes and the mold-removal spaces communicate with each other.
The mold-removal spaces are narrower than the insertion openings for a normal size connector. Thus, slanted guide surfaces for guiding the tabs into the insertion openings can be formed at the upper or lower edges of the insertion openings, thereby taking advantage of a difference in these widths.
The locks for a miniaturized connector must be sufficiently wide to achieve the necessary strength even through the terminal fittings and cavities are narrow. Thus, the mold-removal spaces must be at least as wide as the insertion openings. In such a case, slanted guides cannot be formed at the edges of the insertion openings toward the mold-removal spaces, and the tabs may be inserted into the mold-removal spaces instead of into the cavities.
As a countermeasure, U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,702 discloses a retainer that is mountable into the housing in a direction normal to the inserting direction of the terminal fittings to lock the terminal fittings. The retainer has a front wall that extends along the front end of the housing. The front wall of the retainer has through holes that align with the insertion openings of the housing. Slanted guide surfaces are formed at the opening edges of the through holes. In this way, the slanted guide surfaces can be provided in areas corresponding to the mold-removal spaces.
The retainer is accommodated in a mount hole at a middle position of the housing with respect to forward and backward directions and is mountable normal to the inserting direction of the terminal fittings. The retainer also has a front wall that extends along the front surface of the housing. A main body of the retainer and the front wall are spaced apart along forward and backward directions, and hence a support is needed to support the front wall. The support has elongated left and right outer walls that support opposite left and right edges of the front wall. However, portions of the front wall between the edges may deform and curve along forward and backward directions.
The present invention was developed in view of the above problem and an object thereof is to prevent the deformation of a front wall of a retainer.